Here’s my take on the Corey Seager-Marcus Semien relationship

The Texas Rangers will soon head to Surprise, Ariz., for spring training. Joining them, as always, is longtime Rangers insider Evan Grant.

Grant, entering his 30th season on the Rangers beat, hosted a live video Q and A early Wednesday afternoon and talked about a variety of hot topics in Rangers baseball.

Here are some of the highlights from the Rangers’ priorities entering spring training, Josh Jung’s 2026 outlook and even Corey Seager and Marcus Semien’s relationship:

On Corey Seager and Marcus Semien’s relationship

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EG: “Certainly, there’s been some talk about what the Marcus Semien and Corey Seager dynamic was like, and I think the fact of the matter was there just wasn’t a dynamic. It’d be hard to call it a problematic relationship because I just don’t think those guys ever developed a relationship. I think that was not so much due to one or the other disliking the other. I think it was more of a fact that you had one guy who prepared for the game in one way, one guy who prepared for the game in another way. One guy who ended up being, you know, kind of the team spokesman and was I think forced a little bit into that role in Marcus. And another guy who was not very comfortable in the spotlight in Corey. And so you had these divergent paths, and I think when they both performed really well, the team performed, and when they didn’t or when they were missing, like Seager missed significant parts of the last two years and Semien’s performance went downward, you know, the team didn’t really perform well either.”

On spring training priorities

Evan Grant: “Going into spring training, the first thing I think that is important this year is not so much a project on the field per se as it is messaging. And I asked Chris Young about this — and this will be a story I write later this week — but I asked Chris Young about the most important thing he needs to see this spring from his team and he didn’t hesitate. The first word out of his mouth was ‘hunger.’ And then he went on to describe that he wants to see a greater hunger. That’s not to say that this team didn’t put in effort last year, but I think there is some thought that after ’23, the Rangers went through some hangover period in ’24 and maybe got a little bit complacent in 2025. So I think he wants to see a hunger and a drive, and that, I think means he wants to see performance in spring training as well.”

On Josh Jung’s outlook for 2026

EG: “I think where the hunger and the approach issue applies, it applies to Josh [Jung] probably more than anybody. If I’m singling one person out on the roster, I’m probably singling out Josh Jung. This is going to be really, if you go back to the fact that he debuted in the end of ’22 and he was an All-Star in ’23, he’s had a lot of big league playing time for the Rangers, even though he’s had some injuries mixed in. And I think the Rangers really want to see a step forward.

Where he was in the first half of 2023 is what the Rangers thought they were getting in Josh Jung. He was a little bit more disciplined, but aggressive. Did not chase pitches out of the zone, and he didn’t didn’t get himself out. And I think what they saw the last two years is a guy going backwards in that regard. I think last year, some of that may have been impacted by Josh trying to do too much, and knowing that he got himself in a hole early and trying to dig out of it, and then it leads to chasing bad pitches that led to getting himself out when he was ahead in counts. He did, I think I’ve referenced this already in my 26 things to improve for ’26 column, but Josh’s batting average when he was ahead in a count, and after getting up 2-0, his batting average and his OPS were among the worst in baseball, I think second worst.

So, yeah, I think that’s somebody who’s going to be under, for lack of a better term, a little bit of a microscope in spring training. And I think the fact that Cody Freeman had a really strong September with this club and the spark and the hunger that he showed, I think, you know, we’ve talked about competition at second base as an offseason issue with Josh Smith there, replacing Marcus Semien. But I think there’s going to be some competition at third base as well.”

Here’s the full 44-minute Q&A:

See the four Texas Rangers suiting up for the World Baseball Classic next month